The present invention relates to froth flotation processes for recovery of gold, silver and platinum group values from base metal ores. More particularly, it relates to improved collectors comprising certain monothiophosphate compounds which exhibit an excellent selective recovery of gold, silver and platinum group metals under alkaline conditions.
Froth flotation is one of the most widely used processes for beneficiating ores containing valuable minerals and is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,584,097, hereby incorporated herein by reference.
The success of a flotation process depends to a great degree on the reagent(s) called collector(s) that impart(s) selective hydrophobicity to the valuable mineral that has to be separated from other minerals. Thus, the flotation separation of one mineral species from another depends upon the relative wettability of mineral surfaces by water. Typically, the surface free energy is purportedly lowered by the adsorption of heteropolar collectors. The hydrophobic coating thus provided acts, in this explanation, as a bridge so that the mineral particles may be attached to an air bubble. The practice of this invention is not, however, limited by this or other theories of flotation.
Xanthates, dithiophosphates, alkyl xanthogen alkyl formates, bis alkyl xanthogen formates, dialkylthionocarbamates, hydrocarboxycarbonyl thionocarbamates, etc. have been shown to be useful collectors in froth flotation processes. Most of these known collectors, however, are known to suffer from at least one deficiency which prevents them from being used universally for the recovery of metals from each and every ore requiring refining, such as pH dependency, affinity for some metals versus others etc.
The use of monothio phosphinates as collectors for the recovery of copper is taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,587,013 and 4,661,278. The recovery of gold from gold containing tailings or primary gold ores with dicresyl monothiophosphate is disclosed in Nagaraj et al; XVI International Minerals Processing Congress, Stockholm, Sweden, June 5-10, 1988; Edited by E. Forssberg; Elsevier Science Publishers B. V. Amsterdam; Nagaraj et al; Proceedings of the II International Mineral Processing Symposium; Izmir, Turkey; Oct. 4-6, 1988; Dokuz Eylul University; Dept. of Mining Eng.; Bornova. Nagaraj et al, Development of New Sulfide and Precious Metals Collectors, Presentation at the CIM; Sept. 1987, New Brunswick, N.J. Additionally, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,919,025 and 3,317,040 disclose the recovery of copper from copper ores utilizing monothiophosphates under alkaline conditions. None of these publications, however, disclose the recovery of gold with said monothiophosphates selectively from other metals at alkaline pH. In sulfide flotation, Nagaraj, et. al., above, stated that the optimum pH is 3 to 7 for the monothiophosphate based collectors. It is therefore entirely unexpected that monothiophosphates, in precious metal flotation, were found to exhibit such a high degree of selectivity for precious metals and against base metal sulfide minerals such as copper minerals and pyrite above acidic pH values. Furthermore, selectivity for precious metals is very pH specific, as illustrated by examples below. Thus, even though monothiophosphates were known as collectors for sulfide minerals under acidic conditions, those skilled in the art did not and could not have predicted the unique features of this invention.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved collector and flotation process for the beneficiation of minerals employing froth flotation methods for the selective recovery of gold, silver and platinum group metals from ore.